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Patients must be at the centre of drug purchasing policy – O’Reilly

Sinn Féin TD and Health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly has
raised her concern over the difficulties caused to patients and the health
service over the high cost of medicines, especially when it comes to medicines
for rare or acutely debilitating diseases, and called for patients to be put
front and centre when it comes to drug purchasing policy.

Deputy O’Reilly said:

“The recent refusal of the HSE to fund Translarna, a drug to
treat muscular dystrophy, has again highlighted two significant problems when
it comes drug purchasing. It highlighted the difficulties faced by the Health
Service Executive when it comes to purchasing drugs from large pharmaceutical
companies, particularly when it is a drug treatment for rare or acutely
debilitating diseases, and it also brought into to focus the need for a more
patient centred drug purchasing policy.

“The cost of medicines has been a serious issue for some
time now, only recently the European Parliament passed the ‘Report on EU
options for improving access to medicines’, which criticised the cost of
medicines and the conduct of large pharmaceutical companies, stating: ‘…in many cases, the prices of new medicines
have increased during the past few decades to the point of being unaffordable
to many European citizens and of threatening the sustainability of national
health care systems’.

“In recent times, this has become an acute problem for the
health service and it is then patients and their families who suffer.

“It is of the utmost importance that patient considerations
are put front and centre by the HSE, the government, and pharmaceutical
companies when it comes to drug purchasing policy.

“The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
recognises the fundamental right of citizens to health and medical treatment,
and all involved should recognise that and ensure that the right is upheld.

“I believe there is further need for the re-evaluation
of our drug purchasing policy and further exploration of the possibilities of
co-operation among EU countries for bulk purchasing and to counter large
pharmaceutical companies who seek to profiteer off the illnesses and
difficulties of vulnerable people.”